


You Needed Me

by Mai_Blade



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Violence, Not Romance, Reader-Insert, Songfic, without lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 11:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14377329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mai_Blade/pseuds/Mai_Blade
Summary: A brat was in the wrong place at the right time and it made all the difference in whether you lived or not.





	You Needed Me

**Author's Note:**

> A one-shot song-fic without lyrics because I don't wanna get in trouble. D:

You were walking down the street, submersed in despair, when something caught your attention, a noise that penetrated the fog of your grief. Your ears picked up a familiar sound and your head turned, almost of its own violation, and your eyes sought out the source of the disturbance. Your gaze fell upon the form of a child throwing a tantrum on the cobbled street.

“Waaaaaaahhh!!”

You stared at the wailing child. You kept staring at him as though if you stared long enough the scene before you would make sense, but no flash of insight came. After a long moment your thoughts finally formed a coherent sentence. _‘Is he… is he wearing a cow suit?’_

Although he garnered more than a few stares, no one seemed willing to stop and ask him what was wrong. A frown creased your face but your feet, which had stopped upon your eyes locating the child, would not obey and move forward. Instead they turned and soon you found yourself next to the small human on the ground. “What–“

You twitched as he suddenly clamped himself onto your leg, his snotty nose pressed against your expensive dress pants. “Hey! What the hell! Aw, kid, no…!”

You stood there, rigid, and glared down at the child who sniffled as he clung to your leg. Your eye twitched as he rubbed his face against your pants, further soiling them. After a few moments of him sniffling and you just standing there, you sighed, put your pants down as a loss, and placed your hand on your hip as you looked down at him. “What happened?”

He looked up at you with large green eyes and wailed. “I lost the boss!”

You glared at him blankly. What?

* * *

“So basically you got separated from your family,” you summarized, pointed at him with one finger as he licked his ice cream.

“Yep,” he slurped, face messy.

You stared at him from across the table, wondering how he had conned you into buying him ice cream. As you turned your head to stare at the crowded streets beyond the balcony of the small restaurant you had stopped at you missed Lambo staring at you over the top of his ice cream. He kept licking the sweet ice cream as he stared openly at you.

You were nice, he guessed, since you did stop to ask him what was wrong and treated him to ice cream too. His green eyes crossed momentarily as he looked at his ice cream. Yeah, he’d tell boss you were nice to him.

_Sniff._

Lambo looked back at you as you tried to subtly wipe away a few stray tears. He paused, as concerned as a four-and-a-half-year old kid could be about someone else. He lowered his ice cream slightly and tilted his head to get a better look at your face. “What’s wrong?”

You shook your head, blinking rapidly, “Nothing.”

Lambo frowned, shoulders drooping, “Liar, liar, your pants are on fire.”

“My pants are dirty, thanks to you,” you corrected him, slightly irritated at the reminder.

Lambo went back to licking his ice cream as he talked. “When I get sad I go to the boss or _someone_.” He stared at you over the dwindling ice cream. “Don’t you have someone to go to when you’re sad?”

Your gaze was firmly settled on the street and did not stray to the strange boy you had unwittingly and unwillingly picked up. Your tone fell flat as you replied softly, truthfully. “No, I don’t have anyone anymore.”

Lambo’s eyes watered as the implications hit him. You didn’t have a family? That was so sad! He clutched his ice cream cone in both hands and yelled, “Tolerate!”

Startled, your eyes shot back to him. What was he on about now? Crap, was he crying again?

Lambo lifted his head and stared at you with teary eyes. “You must… tolerate!”

Your eyes, which had been slightly widened, returned to their normal proportions. Your gaze turned back to the street, “Shit, kid. Why do you think I’m here?”

* * *

You sighed, walking along with your hands in your pockets. Lambo, having successfully guilt-tripped you into taking care of him until he could find his family, strode ahead in front of you, arms waving as he hummed happily. To him, now that he wasn’t alone, this was just an adventure.

“I still think you have no idea where you’re going,” you told his back as he skipped ahead of you. “This is your first time in this part of Italy after all. You said so yourself.”

“Just you wait, Lambo knows the way!” He turned a corner and froze. “Uh…”

You turned the corner and stared at the brick wall not ten feet away. Your eyelids lowered and you deadpanned, “Why am I not surprised?”

Lambo quickly placed his hands on his hips and burst out laughing, “Ahahaha! I, Lambo, age four and six months, a hitman from the Bovino family, took a wrong turn!” He doubled back to the more crowded part of the city. “I, Lambo, whose favorite food is hard candy, will find the correct way!”

Figuring that you’d just hand him over to the police at some point, you went along for the time being. It wasn’t like you had anything better to do or anywhere to go. His words registered as you crossed a street and you told his back, “Technically, hard candy isn’t a food.”

Lambo stopped in the middle of the street and turned to stare up at you with wide green eyes. “Huh?”

“I said hard candy isn’t really a food,” you repeated. There wasn’t any traffic on this street just yet, so it was safe to stand there for a moment. “Food is something like fruit or meat or dairy or grains. Hard candy is just sugar, really. It has little nutritional value.”

Lambo stared up at you stupidly. He glanced away and picked his nose, “Hard candy is too a food. Stupid!”

You rolled your eyes and started waving him off the street. You could hear a motor approaching. This kid was so stupid he might actually get himself run over. Lambo whined, dragging his feet. “Hard candy is too a food…”

As you moved the reluctant Lambo along your attention was focused on him so you didn’t notice until it was almost too late that the motor you heard suddenly increased and grew louder–

“Lambo!” In sudden realization you put on a burst of speed and scooped Lambo up in your arms and dove out of the way of a car. You hit the ground rolling and got up running as the car turned in the street and came after you.

Lambo, staring over your shoulder, laughed and pointed. “Stupid idiots don’t know how to drive! They’re driving on the sidewalk and running over things!”

You mentally cursed in your head as you risked a look back. Tinted windows prevented you from seeing the interior so you couldn’t see how many men might be in the car. If it was only one or two you could handle it. Ah, but if there were more that would make things more complicated. Plus, things would be doubly troublesome if any of the men in the car had special abilities.

Lambo fidgeted in your grasp, reaching into his ridiculous hairstyle. You heard a tiny click as Lambo shouted, “Boom!”

_BOOM!_

Startled, you stumbled and glanced back as you kept going. Lambo had thrown an explosive of some kind in the path of the car, making it serve back into the street. Rather than question why Lambo had explosives, you made a sudden sharp turn into a tiny alleyway and hitched up Lambo to get a firmer grip on him as you burst out the other side of the alley and kept running. It wouldn’t be too long before the car found you again. Looking down the street you saw that there weren’t any immediate linking roads. You and Lambo had to disappear, fast.

Your eyes scanned the street again, trying to find–

“Look, here come two guys!”

You spun in place and saw two men emerge from the tiny alleyway you had used to escape. Apparently they decided to go on foot rather than lose you. You glowered at them as you set Lambo down behind you. Your hand reached for your gun as you continued shielding Lambo.

“Just hand over the kid nice and easy,” one of the men suddenly said, surprising you. You hadn’t expected them to want _the kid_. “Don’t get involved with our business, lady.”

“Gahahaha!” Lambo laughed, waving his arms over your shoulder. “Lambo is famous!”

“Lambo,” you whispered through unmoving lips. “Do you know these men?”

“Lambo doesn’t know these men!” Lambo declared, arms hanging over your back as he hung over your shoulder. “Boss said to not get lost because another family had a grudge against the Bovino family!”

_‘Mafia dispute,’_ you realized, pulling Lambo down to a safer position.

“Hand over the kid,” the other man ordered coldly, gun aimed in your direction.

Your arms encircled Lambo protectively as you quickly ran through your options. You could hand over the kid. You’d just met him so he didn’t really mean anything to you. There was no reason to get caught up in a feud between families. On the other hand, they could easily shoot you once you’d handed him over; no witnesses and all that.

But… you could not forget _why_ you had even been in the position to cross paths with the kid in the first place. You could not forget why you had agreed to stay with him until he found his family. You could not forget that you no longer had _anything_ left to lose.

( _the house was smoldering and the famer from down the road told you what happened, that he hadn’t seen any others leave the place, that you should leave before you were seen, but your **whole world** was ash_ )

You sighed heavily, shoulder slumping. The men, though assuming you meant to give up the brat quietly, kept their guns aimed on you nonetheless. Your arms moved as though you were releasing their target, the Bovino brat.

_POOF_

Blue smoke suddenly enveloped you and Lambo. Lambo inhaled to start laughing but ended up coughing violently.

There was no sound as a bullet smashed into the ground next to you. Silencers. You covered Lambo’s mouth as you stood and ran, occasionally throwing down more colored smoke bombs, your specialty. You threw them in a wide range, giving you more room to maneuver. Running in a zigzag pattern you held Lambo in front of you to protect him from the flying bullets still being fired by the two hitmen. Lambo coughed and cried into your suit, trying to catch his breath as you practically smothered him to keep him quiet.

You both needed to disappear, quickly!

You could hear chatter up ahead though you couldn’t see through the colored smoke. You must be approaching a crowd of some kind. You prayed that’s what it was and that you could disappear into it. Praying that you had a head-enough start you burst from the colored smoke and took in the situation immediately. A street market, full of people, stands and displays. People stared at your appearance with wide eyes but you ignored them all, dashing into their midst and dropping low even as you ventured further in.

Risking a glance back you saw through a forest of legs two men emerge from the dissipating colored smoke. A few people let out startled yells but the men ignored them. The crowd parted for them and you moved to one side, knees bent and head low. You followed along a stand and rolled around its corner. You crumpled yourself up in its shadow near the front of its display and prayed the men would not think to look too close beyond whatever the display was. If they leaned forward far enough and looked down, then they would catch you and Lambo.

Said little cow struggled against you, trying to wriggle free. You tightened your grip, curling up with him as you listened to the sound of the men trying to find you. A pair of legs suddenly appeared, almost startled you into gasping. Your eyes shot up, wide. The stand owner didn’t look at you at all. Instead she smiled and tried to convince people to buy her wares. At one point she held up her hands, looking flustered. A rough voice demanded to know if she had seen where a woman and child had gone, giving a brief description of you both.

“Lots of ladies and their kids,” the stand owner replied. You clamped your hand down on Lambo’s mouth harder, holding him so tightly he was in mild pain. “I don’t keep tabs on all of them, though mothers tend to be the best shoppers – have a nice day, sir.”

You don’t know how much time passed before the stand owner finally smiled down at you. “They’re gone.”

You loosened your grip on Lambo who immediately jumped up and bonked you on the head. “Don’t hold Lambo so tightly. It hurt! And don’t make the funny smoke when Lambo isn’t ready. Oh!” His eyes brightened and he stared up at you from your lap. “You have to show Lambo the funny smoke again! Yellow, red, blue, pink, white, _all of them_ ,” he insisted, waving his hand in your face.

You sighed and caught his hand, turning him around so his back was against you. You looked up at the woman, who was probably approaching her fifties. “Is it safe to stand up?”

“If you could do that far away from my stand,” she replied. “I don’t want people reporting me to those men, you understand.”

You nodded, “Of course.”

“Did we win the game?” Lambo demanded, turning to you. He smiled, “Did Lambo win the Hide-and-Seek game?”

You groaned and patted his ridiculous afro hair. He was still alive. “Yes, Lambo, you won the game.” You added with a mutter, “For now…”

Lambo laughed, “Lambo is the best! Lambo needs a prize!” He pointed up at you. “Hey, hey, you! Get Lambo a prize or Lambo won’t play with you anymore!”

You glared at him, realizing the sheer depth of his stupidity. The little brat didn’t even seem to realize how close he’d come to being killed! You exhaled in annoyance, looking up at the lady who had likely saved your lives. “What do you sell?”

She smiled serenely. “Grapes.”

* * *

You didn’t stick around. Lambo in one arm and your purchase in the other, you left the street market and made tracks for a hotel. Not the best hiding place but it was indoors and out of sight which, considering the close call earlier, was a plus. You checked into a hotel and locked you and Lambo into the room. You tossed both child and bag onto the bed and you collapsed beside them.

“Gahahaha! Lambo wants to jump!” Lambo jumped on the bed, irritating you. Did this kid ever shut up or quiet down? Probably only when he was unconscious… which you considered making him.

The bag rustled and you looked over to see Lambo digging through the bag. “What’s this, what’s this?”

You sat up and pulled the bag away from him, pulling out the grapes. “You’ve never had grapes before?”

“Lambo sees them lots,” Lambo explained, glaring at them. “Boss has them around the house and people eat them, but not Lambo! Lambo does not eat weird berries on things that look like little trees. They’re trying to trick Lambo into eating stuff that isn’t yummy!”

“But how do you know they’re not yummy unless you try some?” You pulled off a grape and bit half of it. You offered the bunch to Lambo who continued glaring at them. “They’re juicy and yummy. Try one. Or is Lambo too scared?”

“Lambo is not scared of anything!” Lambo tore one from the bunch and held it up to you. “Look, look! Lambo will eat this and then you can’t say Lambo is scared of them!”

You watched as he tossed it into his big mouth and bit down. His expression changed and he looked up at you dreamily. You laughed and ate the other half of your grape. Lambo swallowed and stared at the bunch of grapes with starry eyes. “This is good. Grapes are good!”

You let him take the grapes from your hand and bounce to a chair where he held up the grapes. “From now on grapes are one of Lambo’s favorite foods!!”

You smiled slightly as he sat down and began munching on them, talking to the grapes before laughing and throwing them into his mouth. After a moment you scratched your head and walked over to the phone. You dialed a number and waited as it rang two times before hanging up. You dialed again and waited for it to ring four times before you hung up. Then you re-dialed and let it ring once before hanging up again.

Your cell phone rang. You picked it up and a familiar voice blurted, “Thank god! Someone is still alive!”

You frowned, walked over to the window and ignored Lambo who was half-way through the grapes. “It’s me, (Name).” You glanced out the window, peering beyond the curtains you hardly pulled aside. “I need a favor.”

“I’m not helping you get drugs,” the voice replied immediately.

You scowled, letting the curtain drop back. “I don’t do drugs nor do I need them. Why is that even the first thing you assume?” You shook your head and looked back at Lambo. “I need you to find someone for me.”

“Ah, I see,” the voice said, fluxing between male and female tones. You had never met or seen this person but you trusted them because of your past together. “What do you need?”

“I need you to locate the Bovino boss and give him a message.”

“Never heard of him,” the voice mused. “But then again, I doubt many heard of us, before…” They trailed off before continuing. “Well, if that’s what you want then that’s what you’ll get. I’ll call back in an hour or so. Or more is I can’t find the bastard.”

“Don’t you want to know the message first?” you asked drily, taking a seat on the bed across from Lambo.

“Oh, right, of course!”

“Tell him I have Lambo,” you said simply.

“Tell boss I’m having fun!” Lambo put in, pausing between grapes.

“And that he’s having fun,” you added.

“All right,” the voice said. “One confirmed kidnapping and ransom then?”

“Good god, _no_ ,” you said loudly. You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose. “Look, just tell him I found Lambo and I want to give him back but I don’t know where to take him.”

“All right,” the voice said. “Ciao.”

You closed your cell phone and stared at Lambo. “You should be with your boss again soon.”

“Okay,” Lambo said, swallowing the last of the grapes. He jumped down and his feet pit-patted over to the bathroom. “Lambo needs to pee!”

“You didn’t need to tell me that,” you muttered, turning on the television. You flipped through the channels and left it on a cartoon, hoping it would distract Lambo when he came out.

You gave the room a once over, saw a door, a window and a heating duct. You pushed a chair under the doorknob and looked out the window again. A fall that far would probably kill a kid like Lambo and almost certainly injure an adult like yourself. So, if worst came to worst, you would stuff Lambo in the duct, tell him to crawl to safety and pray he wasn’t found while you escaped through the window and hopefully led his pursuers on a wild goose chase that would likely end with you getting killed.

Not that you particularly cared at this point. In fact, all you had to live for was getting Lambo back to his boss. After that… after that it was back to being alone.

After all, you had no Family to go back home to.

“Lambo watches this cartoon!”

You frowned, turning to the Bovino brat. “Lambo, did you flush the toilet and wash your hands?”

Lambo picked his nose. “Lambo doesn’t need to do that.”

“Then Lambo is an idiot,” you retorted.

Lambo turned to you. “Lambo is not an idiot! Lambo is the smartest person in the whole world!”

“That’d be scary,” you muttered, thinking of a world full of idiots where Lambo was the most intelligent human. The human race would be extinct in a week. Tops.

“That’s right,” Lambo boasted, hands on his hips, looking stupidly proud. “Lambo is so smart and strong he’s scary!”

You pointed in the direction of the bathroom. “Go flush and wash your hands or I won’t buy you any dessert when I go buy supper.”

Lambo pouted and dragged his feet back to the bathroom. You heard the toilet flush and then the sound of running water. Then, after a moment there came thud and the sound of water changed. “Gupya!”

You stared at the cartoon for a moment before going to check what was wrong. You found Lambo wriggling in the sink under a stream of water. He coughed and hacked as you turned the water off. He shook, “Tol… er… ate…!”

Grabbing a towel, you lifted the soaked child from the sink. Removing his cow-print footie suit you set it aside in the shower stall to wring and hang to dry after you dealt with the kid. Closing the toilet lid you sat down and proceeded to dry off the sniffling little cow. He shivered and shook as you dried him off. You finished drying him and wrapped him in another towel and took him back into the main room, setting him down on the bed so he could comfortably watch the cartoon. His sniffles slowed and stopped and soon he was laughing loudly, waving his arms from the towel.

You scouted the street from the window while Lambo flipped through the channels, commenting on everything. You had just finished plotting your quick trip out when Lambo shouted, “Boobies!”

You choked as loud moaning came through the television set. You almost tripped over your feet as you scrambled back to the bed, ripping the remote from Lambo and changing the channel. An upset blush burned your face as you reset the parental lock so Lambo couldn’t go back. He stared at you as you tossed the remote back at him. He cocked his head, shamelessly staring at your chest. “Your boobies are–“

“Shut up,” you hissed quickly, grabbing one corner of the towel and flipping it over his head. You stalked back to the window and returned to looking out.

Lambo shrugged and started flipping through the channels again. He found something he liked and sat there, shouting as he watched.

Your clunky cell phone rang. You flipped it open and brought it up to your ear. “Tell me you found him.”

“Oh, I found him,” the voice confirmed. “He said to bring Lambo tomorrow to the fountain in the park in the south-west side of town.”

“I know the place,” you said. “Thanks.”

“Hey, _wait_ ,” the voice begged quickly. It paused. “Don’t… don’t disappear again, okay? I thought… when I heard… I thought you’d been killed too.”

“No, I wasn’t home,” you replied in a tight voice, hand clenched. “I wasn’t home when it happened. I just came back to find yellow police-tape all over my goddamn world and everyone gone.”

“They took us out because we were still small,” the voice said. “It doesn’t have to be the end, you know. There’s still the two of us left.”

“I’m tired,” you told the voice, leaning heavily against the wall. “I don’t think I have it in me…”

* * *

It didn’t make you feel any better but you bribed Lambo with the promise of candy if he didn’t destroy the room while you were out getting things. He nodded, eyes sparkling at the promise of candy. You tried to be as quick as possible, following the path you had plotted earlier; to the clothing store for something for Lambo to wear, then to the small grocery store for supper and the promised candy, and then a speedy retreat to the hotel.

The little brat complained about the baggy shirt not being cool enough and about the food being cold. He gloated over the candy and actually stuffed them into his afro hair. You just stared at him through half-mast eyes and picked at your own food. When Lambo started yawning you put him to bed. He took off his horns and placed them on the bedside table before allowing you to tuck him into bed.

You stayed awake for a few hours, thinking. You thought about how you should go about returning Lambo tomorrow and decided to ditch your business suit. The brat had ruined your pants leg anyway. You’d buy a pair of jeans and a shirt of some kind, and shoes too. A shame to get rid of the ones you were wearing but they didn’t exactly mesh with the outfit you had in mind. As for how to explain how you’d found the Bovino boss to tell him about Lambo… well, you’d just make a quick escape.

Lambo muttered and shifted, drawing your attention. You stared at the bed for a minute before staring back into space. The voice said it didn’t have to be the end. There were still the two of you left… ah, but who wants to start over from zero, especially when most of your comrades were dead? Then again if you gave up now you’d just be giving up the legacy of your own boss, wouldn’t you? 

It was well after midnight by the time you decided to stop thinking and go to bed. Thinking was a pain in the ass. Maybe after you had some sleep it would be less so. You slipped under the covers and shifted to your side, staring at the little brat. You could see things sticking out of his hair. He mumbled again, turning over so he was facing you. His hand came to a rest between you and without thinking about it you covered it with your own. His hand was small. Yours could envelop his completely, a small warmth in your cold grasp.

( _there had been a couple kids at the base, children who were offspring of the Family and would have someday be active members themselves, but not even they had been spared_ )

“Eech, cold…” Lambo scowled sleepily, shivering. He sighed and wriggled further under the covers, mumbling. A moment passed and he wriggled closer, snuggling up against your stomach.

You held him there and your eyes slowly blinked closed. Your last thought before falling asleep was that he’d better not piss the bed or there’d be hell to pay.

* * *

Morning came much too soon and with too much noise.

“Lambo is hungry!”

You growled and shoved Lambo under the blankets. He wiggled to the foot of the bed and escaped from there. In a moment he was back on the bed, jumping up and down, shouting for food. You sat up and scratched your head, further messing up your hair. You scowled at the hyper-active brat. You were almost glad you were getting rid of him today.

An hour later found you both at a clothing store as you bought the outfit you’d decided on last night. Lambo was back in his cow-print footie, though it was somewhat wrinkly. Lambo laughed and pulled at his outfit, saying something about raisins. You threw out your suit and shoes and picked up Lambo, heading off the designated meeting place

You kept your eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Lambo, from your shoulder and apparently lacking anything resembling a thought filter, pointed at things and yelled whatever came to his mind. At one point he pointed at a woman and shouted, “Huge boobies!”

The aforementioned woman shouted that maybe you should teach your brat manners, to which you replied he wasn’t your kid. This, sadly, fell on deaf ears and was not helped by Lambo who shouted, “Lambo’s _maman_ isn’t as big as you but she’s still nicer!”

“I’m not your _maman_ ,” you told him drily as you continued walking along.

Lambo looked at you from your shoulder. “Lambo knows. Lambo’s _maman_ died but Lambo remembers her a little bit.”

“Was she nice?” You asked, thinking of your own mother who died when you were young, though not nearly as young as Lambo.

Lambo thought about it before nodding. “Yes, Lambo’s _maman_ was nice. Boss misses her and he takes care of Lambo. Everyone takes care of Lambo. Lambo is special!”

You wondered if Lambo was the Bovino boss’s brat. That might account for the overly spoiled nature. Then again he could just be a spoiled kid in general. If you ever had kids, you decided you’d better not let them get as spoiled as Lambo.

You shook your head as you realized you were thinking long-term. You didn’t want to think long-term. You just wanted to go and be with your Family again. Ah, but what about the voice then? You couldn’t just leave the voice behind by their lonesome…

“Lambo sees the boss!” Lambo shouted, using your head as a vantage point. He laughed loudly, dropping back to your shoulder. “Lambo wins the game of I Spy!”

You rolled your eyes and walked over to where Lambo was pointing. Men in black suits stood waiting.

“Lambo,” a man in a suit called, stepping from a black car.

“Boss!” Lambo slid down your back and your leg, dropping to the ground and running over to the man. “Stupid boss, you got separated from Lambo! Lambo looked all over for you!”

Your lips twitched, recalling the scene he had been making yesterday.

“Are you okay, Lambo?” The Bovino boss looked the brat over. He didn’t seem too much worse for wear… He looked up at you. “Who are you?”

“This is Lambo’s friend,” Lambo shouted, tugging on the boss’s pants and pointing obnoxiously at you. “She found Lambo and gave him ice cream and grapes! We played hide-and-seek and we won! We had a sleep-over and pancakes and went shopping and then we came here!” Lambo scrambled up his boss, hanging off his arm as he smiled up at the man and repeated. “This is Lambo’s friend!”

You looked away and pursed your lips, willing yourself to not cry. This was stupid. Why should you get so worked up over being called the brat’s friend? It didn’t make sense!

“Thank you,” the Bovino boss said, allowing Lambo to scale him and climb up to his shoulder. “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to Lambo.”

“Keep a closer eye on him,” you advised, managing to sound normal. “There were men after him yesterday.”

The men in black suits cast their boss quick glances. The Bovino boss stared at you. “Do you happen to have a description of the men?”

“I was rather busy running for our lives,” you replied, nodding at Lambo who was now swinging on his boss’s coat.

“Of course,” the boss replied. That was fine. He knew who it was anyway. And they would pay.

“Hey!” Lambo remembered something and turned to you, still hanging on his boss’s shirt. He stared at you wide-eyed. “Wanna be part of our Family?”

The Bovino boss picked up Lambo. “Lambo…”

Lambo pointed back at you. “She doesn’t have a Family anymore! She was crying like a baby!”

“I was not,” you said tersely, vein twitching. You turned your head away. “Besides, I still have someone waiting for me, so I can’t join your Family.”

“But the Bovino Family is the strongest!” Lambo insisted, jumping down and then latching himself into your leg. He stared up at you. “The Bovino Family is super strong! You should join us!”

You knelt down and placed your hand on his head. “I can’t, Lambo. I have to go.”

Lambo stared at you. “Will Lambo see you again?”

You stared back at him. You didn’t know. “Sure. Lambo will see me again.”

Lambo smiled. “Then okay! Lambo will see you again and when Lambo sees you again he will ask you to join Lambo’s Family again!” He jabbed his finger on your cheek. “And you better say yes!”

You just smiled at him. “Okay. Next time I see you and you ask, I will say yes.”

“And give Lambo candy next time too!”

The Bovino boss and the men shook their heads. That was their Lambo, ever self-serving.

You just kept smiling that smile. “Okay.” You took his hand and shook it. “Goodbye, Lambo.”

“Goodbye!” Lambo took your hand and shook it with both of his. He beamed and then skipped back to his boss, scaling the man as you turned and walked away.

You flipped open your cell phone and gave the same number of calls and rings of yesterday. In a moment the voice was calling. You looked up at the sky as you answered the call.

“Hey.”

* * *

Lambo could never remember a time when grapes weren’t one of his favorite foods. He didn’t remember the day he got lost or what happened. He didn’t remember the woman his boss told him about once in a while in passing. He didn’t remember falling into a sink and being tenderly dried. He didn’t remember crying for a young woman who had no Family to go home to. Lambo didn’t remember any of that time or the last time he saw you.

He was just a kid back then, barely five years old and he had trouble remembering things from then, so you didn’t blame him when he passed by you without a second glance. It was fine. You had another Family now. Attending this Vongola event was just something you had to do as your boss’s subordinate. It was fine if Lambo didn’t remember you, probably even for the best since you’d have to keep your promise from back then and your Family might not be so happy about that. It was better this way.

“Goodness,” Lambo commented from somewhere behind you, his voice somehow rising above the chatter in the room. You could hear a smile in his voice. “Look at this delicious grape selection…”

It seems the candy would not be leaving your purse. This was fine.

This was… fine.

“Hey,” a familiar voice called. Your boss’s right-hand man came up to you. He smiled. “Adamo is covering me for the moment.” He held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”

“Go on,” the voice said in your ear piece. The voice carried a smile in their tone as well. “Go on. You’ve earned it.”

You smiled and set down your drink. Yes, this was fine, if not more so. You had a Family and it was thanks to a brat being in the wrong place at the right time. You took your trusted comrade’s hand and allowed yourself to be swept onto the dance floor. You ignored the flashes of cow-print in your peripheral vision and you paid no attention to the young man who later began entertaining the guests with a rather questionable act which left his own boss blinking in bemusement while his right-hand man demanded the ‘dumb cow put on some clothes and stop embarrassing Tenth’. It was a good party and peace negotiations would go well after this.

( _you could not stop yourself from wanting closure on that long ago promise_ )

* * *

The party was wrapping up and you were heading out to join the others for when the car came around. You paused by the door and glanced up at the night sky.

“Excuse me,” someone said. You turned and found yourself staring Lambo. He had put his clothes back on. He blinked, shuffling his feet. “Um, this might seem weird and I swear I’m not trying to pick you up, but… do I know you from somewhere?”

You stared at him. You smiled slightly. “Why do you ask that?”

Lambo tapped his fingers together. “Um, well, this evening I heard your voice. You said something about colored smoke and I remembered a time when I saw colored smoke. I kind of choked on it and there was someone there with me. I was small and…” he laughed nervously, scratching the side of his face. “And then it kind of jogged my memory. I remember being lost and falling into a sink and someone telling me they weren’t my _maman_ …”

Your smile didn’t fade. “You were barely five years old then.”

“Ah, so it was you!” Lambo blushed and coughed. “I mean…” He smiled. “I’m just so glad to see you. I’m happy I remembered.”

You dug into your purse and held out your hand. You nodded for him to hold out his and you dropped grape candy into his palm. “The candy I promised you, long ago.”

Lambo picked up a piece and stared at it for a moment. He looked at you. “I was supposed to ask you something too, wasn’t I?”

You shook your head once. “You don’t need to ask me anymore.”

A car drove up and your Family began moving towards it. One called over to you and you waved back at him before turning your gaze to Lambo. “I have my own Family. There’s nothing you need to ask, I think.”

Lambo nodded slowly. Yes, he shouldn’t poach. You didn’t need him to keep his promise anymore.

“(Name)!”

“My Family is calling,” you said. You gave him one last smile. “I’m glad to see you’ve become a fine young man.” You laughed lightly, “If still as spoiled as ever.”

Lambo chuckled, smiling. He couldn’t deny that. His Family, the Tenth especially, did tend spoil him. He stared at you. “Will I see you again?”

You nodded. “Yes.”

Lambo clenched the candy in his hand. “No goodbye this time?”

“Rather a farewell, instead,” you replied. “As long as we’re alive, we’ll see each other again someday.”

Lambo nodded. He watched you descend the stairs and enter the car. He watched as that car disappeared into the night. After the red lights had disappeared, he stared down at the candy in his hand and smiled, almost sadly, as he remembered the people you had arrived with and left with. Your voice echoed in his mind.

_“No, I don’t have anyone anymore…”_

Lambo closed his eyes and he felt slightly melancholy, yet somehow happy. That wasn’t true anymore. Now…

_“I have my own Family.”_

You didn’t need him anymore.

* * *

_Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again after moments or a lifetime is certain for those who are friends._

_~Richard Bach_

**Author's Note:**

> An old fanfic with some editing and removal of probably copy-righted lyrics. I don't actually usually write these kinds of fanfics, but it was a refreshing change of pace for me back then.
> 
> When KHR stole my soul it was mostly because of TYL!Lambo. xD
> 
> Of course, nowadays it's My Hero Academia and Maruyama's Overlord that has my attention. :P


End file.
